Good Friday Bonus Page: Where Grace Meets Justice
Theme of the Week: Graded on the Curve?
Friday, April 10, 2009
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Key Bible Verse: He purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven (Ephesians 1:7).
When we forgive a debt or injury, we don't require a payment for settlement. Forgiveness assumes grace. Grace gives what someone doesn't deserve. That's what God does when we trust Christ: "Everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name" (Acts 10:43).
But this raises a problem. Forgiveness isn't enough. We see this clearly when the injury is great—like murder or rape. Neither society nor the universe can hold together if judges (or God) simply say to every murderer and rapist, "Are you sorry? Okay. The state forgives you. You may go." While a victim may have a forgiving spirit, the state can't forsake justice.
It's the same with God. His justice will no more allow him simply to set us free than a human judge can cancel all the debts that criminals owe to society. The injury done to his glory by our sin must be repaired. If we're to be set free, there must be some dramatic demonstration that his honor is upheld.
That's why Christ suffered and died. Forgiveness costs us nothing. That's why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus his life. That's why we call it just. God doesn't need to hold our sins against us because Christ's blood made it right for him to do this.
—John Piper in The Passion of Jesus Christ
My Good Friday Response: I'll thank my Savior for suffering and dying so that my heavenly Father could blot out my sins.
Adapted from The Passion of Jesus Christ (Crossway Books) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Intensify my grasp of your holiness this week so that I can begin to comprehend the cost of sacrificing your Son.
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